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Sunday Breakfast Menu, May 3

Brace yourself for a particularly newsy morning that tracks closely with the waves of events that occurred this past week. You might want to order a double or triple espresso to digest it all.

As they have been everpresent since the outbreak of swine flu began dominating the airwaves, the Obama administration’s top health, security and disease officials continue their full-court press to try to reassure the public and encourage residents to wash their hands routinely.

Early on Saturday, World Health Organization officials were saying they saw no reason to raise the level of alert to Phase 6, the formal designation of a pandemic. But at Phase 5 now, health officials in North America are busily tamping down signs of panic, so the news shows should offer clues to renewed efforts to try to calm the public’s fears.

The rosters for all five Sunday shows include Secretary Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security, Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the newest member of the team, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of Health and Human Services, who was confirmed in the Senate just last week amid the burgeoning flu crisis.

So, cozy up with your eggs and breakfast meat — no need to hold the bacon, the three will most likely assure you that eating pork doesn’t cause swine flu — for an education on the H1N1 influenza, as the White House, lawmakers and the W.H.O. take pains to call the flu by its official label.

The flu aside, this Sunday’s shows provide more opportunities for speculation following Friday’s announcement that Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter plans to retire, as lawmakers and journalists try to game out the president’s thinking on his first nominee to the nation’s highest court.

George Stephanopoulos, of ABC’s “This Week,” leads the way with Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Democrat from Vermont, and Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, as well as the administration guests. Senator Leahy also remains one of the top advocates for a commission to get behind the rationale for the Bush administration’s controversial interrogation methods, so talk of that may emerge as well. (Read Carl Hulse’s take on the nomination battle going forward.)

CBS’ “Face the Nation” throws the week’s other big story into the mix, scoring one of two Sunday interviews with Senator Arlen Specter, now Democrat No. 59, who raised Republican eyebrows and liberal spirits when he crossed the aisle Tuesday. Later in the morning, Mr. Specter, who switched parties in the face of a tough primary challenge in his re-election bid for a sixth term from conservative Pat Toomey, will be on “Meet the Press” on NBC.

It’s also a double-header day for Senator Leahy, who will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union.” In addition, John King, the cable network’s host of that show, talks with Representative Eric Cantor, the Republican minority whip from Virginia, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The two are among leading Republicans engineering a revamping of the party’s identity through town-hall meetings and other forums that began on Saturday in Arlington, Va.

Fox News Sunday will also examine the state of the G.O.P. with Senator John Ensign, the Republican policy committee chairman from Nevada, who has assumed a prominent role in defining the party’s stance on a variety of issues.

The program’s host, Chris Wallace, also interviews Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley Jr.. The younger Buckley, a prolific satirist and writer of several books, turned heads last year when he departed from his father’s magazine and ideological fold to endorse Mr. Obama for president. Just last week, he wrote an essay about growing up as a Buckley in The New York Times Magazine.

On NBC, David Gregory interviews former Representative Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Will he be asked again whether he intends to run for the Senate from Florida? The other premier guest is Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and counselor to President Bush. He’s now the co-founder of a new group, Resurgent Republic, which is yet another effort to help redefine the G.O.P.’s mission.

Not to be overlooked, foreign policy concerns, including the instability in Pakistan, the resurgence of violence in Iraq and other matters, will be the predominant theme with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who interviews Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Times’s Mark Landler and Elisabeth Bumiller just outlined the difficulties the Obama adminstration faces given the Taliban’s offensive in western Pakistan.

The region’s problems emerged as one of the major news nuggets of President Obama’s news conference marking his 100 days in office on Wednesday night.

I hope some of the talking head commentators will ask their guests this question. ” Has the Obama administraion`s proactive efforts concerning the health crisis[?] been detrimental to the future of political liberty of the United States for generations to come? ”
If this is or is not a plague, only a blind deaf and dumb pure partisan could say that Obama has not responded brilliantly. If we have a plague we are ready as much as possible; if we escape it may very well be because of his efforts and leadership. We all know who is in charge and it is not some clown named Brownie.
Compare Obama`s rsponse to that of Bush in Katrina. Bush had been personally told 5 months before that New Orleans was ready to flood. If Obama had been in charge we all know the out come would not have shown people being left to die on Inter State 10..
His rsponse to the banking crisis and his luck in having the stock marker rebound has tamed fears of economic Armageddon. His response to this virus has calmed fears of 1918. Dictators and tyrants who heal, feed, and protect the people are beloved indeed. The average man eagerly cedes his political rights to such a hero. This is fine until an Augustus is replaced by a Nero. I wish somebody would dare bring this up.
Charles B. Tiffany
Kissimmee, Florida

When is the next GOPizza Party scheduled? I thought it interesting that they went to Arlington to a strip mall pizza parlor “to get away from beltway politics.” That is simply a bike ride from downtown DC.

In my view, I believe that the GOP certainly has a chance to regroup from their current problems and rediscover that which has brought them to a position of greater respect and acceptability. I am not a Republican, but it seems to me the idea of “Shock and Awe” has not panned out too well and should be shelved for now. The GOP can go back to their roots and reclaim the mantle of “Kinder and Gentler.” Those ideals have brought the GOP results and it may be worth another try to bring back some of the luster of the near past.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…